fishbonkers

Hi Klaus, You have every right to fish for small fish. And it's your choice whether to practice Catch & Release or not. As for bass there are a few laws, such as it's illegal to retain bass over 36cm overall length, and there are restrictions on bass fishing by boat in designated Nursery Areas (details elsewhere on the internet). I have a lot of fun fishing for small bass, especially on light tackle and spinning in particular. If you are new to bass fishing, then targetting small bass is a good way of learning how they bite, how to bring them in and how to handle them. On some stretches of coast immature bass are the only bass around ! Basic tactics for newcomers to bass fishing are in Sea Angler magazine issue 466 (page 122) and 467 (page 112). If you can get hold of back issues that is... Good hunting, Geoff

Hello Stuart I don't think you are going to get many replies, because anybody who gives away their marks on a Forum can expect the commercials and the dole-hangers-who-fish-and-sell-fish will clear the place of fish before next breakfast time. I suggest you have a look at Google Earth, Ordinance Survey Maps and pop into a near-coast library and look up a yachtsman's guidebook on how to safely sail around Suffolk and its estuaries. Then try to narrow down the field to where the fish might be. If you are targetting bass, look for sudden changes in the bottom, man-made structures, man-made sea defences, estuary mouths, estuary bends, jetties, harbour structures and so on. Go and check these out and narrow the list down some more regarding ease of access, safe access and so on. Then fish them when there is not a big tide on (the sea is dirty enough round here - the big tides just throw up more silt etc, which is no good for lure fishing). If you are after mullet, go for them in harbours. Try the baited spoon method, with a small piece of farmed ragworm or a bunch of maddies. You can get them further up river, but I find the further up they are, the more wary they are (perhaps the ones in harbours get a bit used to boat traffic etc.) I hope this helps, Geoff

Hi Vagabond, It's a long time since this thread dried up, but Summerlands said today that it's discontinued and they can't source any. I wondered if you could advise me where to look at/buy this rod. If you still have your pair, can you advise me if the number 126275 would refer to 12 foot 6 inches long and a 2.75 lb test curve? Just wondered. Al;so, I wondered if you would sell one or both of your pair. Thanks, Geoff

Hi, Best thing to do is have a look on these forums instead: - Eastern Anglers - The Eastern forum on WSF You will need to put each one into google, because I don't have the URLs while I'm typing this. Each of these forums has fishing reports, advice etc. for Southwold and surrounding coastline. Also there is a guide to fishing Southwold, concentrating from just north of the pier to the harbour entrance. Can't remember how to get it from the net, again try Google. The river Blyth throws up the odd bass but there are a lot of people with blanks. You need to fish very early morning because once the boat traffic starts the bass don't want to know. Haven't seen any mullet yet, but I'm no mulleter. I don''t think it's got much of a reputation for mullet, due to the very fast moving water on the flood and the ebb. Hope this helps.

Hi chamois, I used to fish it when I lived in the Southend area many years ago, but maybe it hasn't changed much since (apart from the flooding of the farmland east of Wallasea). I used to fish it for bass on the south side, which is the deepest, and it's also the side that is rocky - which is more to their liking. The flood is best - on the ebb the water movement is much too strong to hold bottom, and the fish probably don't want to feed under those conditions anyway. Spring Tides can be a problem with debris and filth in the water - go when thye tides are lighter. Daytime fishing gives best results because the water is silty and it proivides cover for the bass; night brings forth too many eels. As you are camping there is no excuse - fish daybreak, before all the boats start zig-zagging about, frightening off the fish. Use crab, or failing that, ragworm, on a short snood, say 12 to 18 inches, and a breakout lead, and cast 45 degrees uptide. Fish from 2 hrs beyond low water to High Tide. Lob the legered bait into a gap in the floating weed, or to just beyond the floating weed. Don't cast out further - it's just barren. Use a shortish handled rod (I used to use a boat caster, which has plenty of backbone if you get a biggie, or a big smoothound for that matter). You will see what I mean when you squat on that sloping sea wall and try to lob - this is no place for beachcasters. The floating weed is where the immature crab and rock gobies etc are - and that is where the bass do their feeding. Squat down halfway up the sea wall and keep still. Take a landing net - I hope you will need it. I don't know anything about camp sites there. Crab and rag can be bought in the tackle shops in the Southend area, website 'Southend Bait and Tackle' comes to mind. Please put a post on here after your trip - I'd like to know if the old methods still work !

Just ordered mine from Amazon, discounted to £10.49 plus post. Post is free on orders of £15 or more.

I too have been thinking about a shooting stick or similar, but not for medical reasons. I prefer to have the rod tips in the corner of my eye - and that means standing all the time or sitting on something fairly high, 'cos I can't stand sitting low and looking up all the time. I was about to cut down the kitchen stool and put mud feet on it, but along came this thread !! The Penrose PAS3 looks a great buy, discounted from 42.30 to 19.39 incl. VAT & delivery. Sold !!

Hi, At last some popper anglers - I thought we were going extinct !! I haven't fished Luce Bay but I love using poppers in similar terrain in Kerry. I find that stillwater like in your picture isn't as good as water with some foam / suds in it. In frothy water I've had bass hit the popper as soon as it hits the water. Also I think that the wary older bass aren't afraid to rise up in frothy water. Keep on popping... and do use braid, you have much more control over the movement of the popper, and if it snags, you can usually pull it out !

Hi Chris The problem with braid for beachcasting is that you have a lot of line out and with the non-stretch qualities, all contact from weed etc registers as a 'bite' and all these twitches can drive you nuts. However, it can be beneficial to match fishers who want to be one up on their competitors. There's a guy in East Cork who wins the majority of matches down there - he uses 40lb braid cast at distance, and touch-legers for every bite. He's been doing this since braid came out and he's an expert in feeling for bites and telling which is which. He uses a leader with the times ten rule (needed for safety whatever line is cast), but this leader is probably as taught as a guitar string and being on the bottom it probably doesn't catch much debris. One drawback with braid is that when wound in with any strain it digs-in to the turns already on the spool, which affects the line coming off in next cast. Far better to use mono, unless you're a keen matchman... Good hunting.

Have a look at Mike Ladle's review on: http://www.docladle.fishermen.co.uk/tackle/tackle199.html